Security News > 2020 > June > UK police's face recognition tech breaks human rights laws. Outlaw it, civil rights group urges Court of Appeal

UK police's face recognition tech breaks human rights laws. Outlaw it, civil rights group urges Court of Appeal
2020-06-23 16:30

Automated facial recognition use by British police forces breaches human rights laws, according to lawyers for a man whose face was scanned by the creepycam tech in Cardiff.

Squires is barrister for one Ed Bridges, who, backed by human rights pressure group Liberty, wants to overturn a judicial review ruling from 2019 which failed to halt facial recognition tech use against him by South Wales Police.

The Divisional Court in the Welsh capital of Cardiff said it was satisfied police were complying with the Human Rights Act as well as "The data protection legislation", a ruling Bridges and Liberty now hope to overturn.

The case, due to continue over the next few days, sees three of Britain's most senior civil judges hearing from Liberty, South Wales Police, the Home Office, the Information Commissioner's Office, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner and the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales.

The hearing began as a YouTube livestream which rapidly collapsed into chaos, with Sir Terence Etherton - president of the Court of Appeal - phoning judicial tech support for help only to be put through to O2 voicemail.


News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/06/23/liberty_facial_recognition_court_appeal/